Someone else will know more about painting than me. But the gelcoat is the "reddish brown stuff." When it came from the factory it was a glossy bright red. You don't want to sand it off. First, it is what protects the fiberglass below, and protects you from the fiberglass. Fiberglass is rough and not a suitable finish. Second, it would take virtually forever. The advice other will give will tell you what grit of sandpaper to use to get the deck smooth enough for paint while getting rid of the oxidization.If I wanted to go the painting route- do you just sand down to make the surface rough or would i try to get most of the redish brown color off?
Any idea on how to refresh the traction pad? Seems to be slowly flaking away with some brighter red spots visible underneath.Looks good. Assuming its water tight, I'd lightly sand it and paint the deck with topside paint and get it on the water. You're going to want to keep the traction pad - I learned last weekend that a slick sailfish deck makes for a very wild ride!
Serial number is 07319Is there a Serial Number plate on the deck. We can figure out the year with a Serial No.
Here is a 1968 ALCORT Sunfish brought back to life by Chip at Sail Fish LLC with wet sanding, image credit Chip.
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Forget the one photo. Fat fingered the file select.Thank for the heads up on the screw/support issue. Will be heads up when I flip the boat. Right now not planning on repaint on deck, just hand sanding, etc. I'm happy with the duralux. Should have done better on sanding the primer. Worked on the first topcoat, second topcoat is outstanding. Lesson learned.
Had these stickers made, close. Had to build in PowerPoint, company could not replicate from photo. Calling it pretty good. Couldn't find an existing sticker that matched both original fonts.
Going to try to keep rudder hardware original, had to replace the 71/2" carriage bolt. Cut an 8" down, ground a thumb nut down to prevent the end from getting bent again. Made a spare.